Caught
by dustybook
Summary: Belle is starting her senior at college happy to escape her Ex boyfriend, Gaston, but Belle becomes afraid as she is being stalked. She receives protection and help from the most unlikely source, her Professor Mr. Gold, but Gold might be risking more than he's letting on. THIS IS NOT A LACEY STORY.!
1. Chapter 1: Fresh Start

**A/N: I would like to credit to NicoleMuenchSeidel for designing my cover for this piece just as she did the cover for The Dark One's Apprentice. I would also like to thank Nicole and her husband for helping me come up with the plot for this as it could have easily become a generic, student having an affair with her older professor and the couple has a lot of inappropriate sex, plot. This story is rated M for some foul language and drawing the issues of rape and stalking.**

**Chapter One: A Fresh Start**

Belle eased her dark blue mini cooper into the spot in front of her new dorm building. She was looking forward to a new semester, and had hopes that this year she could redefine herself, start over. After what happened over the summer she couldn't wait to start her senior year, the only problem was she hated leaving her dad. Martha Potts, their neighbor, promised to take care of him, and she had a son, Chip, who loved helping Belle's dad around the house. Chip adored her dad and was probably one of the few people who appreciated some of the inventions he tried to build.

As soon as she arrived in her dorm, the sound of waves rushing towards shore and pelicans screeching reached Belle's ears. Ariel, her roommate, was putting clothes in her drawers, and had already claimed her bed. The sounds were coming from her IPod, which was attached to a small set of speakers.

"Hey, how was your summer?" Ariel asked as she turned to greet her friend.

Belle shrugged. "It was okay."

Ariel arched her brow and frowned. "Why just okay?"

"Nothing much happened. I helped my dad at the flower shop, also helped with inventory at the bookstore, broke up with Gaston, and helped dad in his workshop as well," she replied.

"What? Wait, wait? You and Gaston broke up?" Ariel asked.

"It's not a big deal. We didn't want the same things anymore," Belle said, trying to avoid eye contact with her friend without being too obvious. There was no way in hell she was going to tell Ariel the actual reason she finally broke it off.

"But I thought you loved him," Ariel said.

_I thought I did too, until I realized his true nature. _ "People change and grow apart. I'm fine, Ariel, really," Belle assured her friend, smiling to prove it.

Ariel narrowed her eyes trying to see if Belle would give away anything with her expression, but she still held that same confident smile. Ariel returned to decorating her side of the room deciding not to press Belle on the issue, at least for now, until she was ready to talk about it.

Once both had their sides of the room decorated how they wanted them to be, Ariel and Belle went to meet Ruby, Victor, David, Ariel's boyfriend Eric, and Mary Margaret to sign up for classes. Belle was eager to sign up for her European Literature class—it was the last class she would need to complete her major. She was hoping to get Professor Gold as she had heard from many of his previous students he was brilliant, but he was also a bit of a hard ass. His book on _Interpretation and Analyzes of 20__th__ Century Literature Verses Literature in the 19__th__ Century_ was brilliant and she had spent most of her summer reading it and making notations on it. She hoped that he wouldn't prove the theory that meeting your idols was something you should never do.

Belle's eyes searched the crowd for their other friends as she and Ariel stood in line waiting to sign up for classes.

"What are you taking this semester?" Ariel asked Belle.

"Philosophy, European Literature, Abnormal Psychology, and Political Science," Belle listed off what she was going to sign up for.

"Wow, can you handle all that? I don't want you to over exert yourself," Ariel said, frowning when Belle listed off her four classes.

Belle shrugged. "You know me I'm ambitious," she said with a wink, "Oh, there they are."

Ariel followed where Belle was pointing and then waved at the foursome across the way.

"Where is Eric?" She asked, looking around to see if he was nearby.

"He's probably getting some coffee," Belle answered. Ariel and Eric had just started dating, but she was a bit clingy with him at times probably Eric was her first boyfriend. Ariel's dad, Trent Seabrook, had made a rule that Ariel and her sisters were to not date until college.

Huddled in a group were Mary Margaret with a new hair-cut pixie style, David, who had his arm around Mary Margaret, and beside them were Ruby and her boyfriend, Victor, who were making out as they waited in line to get to the registration booth. Their public displays of affection made Belle roll her eyes, and Ariel giggled smiling at the sight of her friends being 'super cute'.

**~Page Break~**

"Morning," Eric said smiling as he handed his girlfriend a cup of coffee.

"I thought you were going to meet us at the registration hall," Ariel said giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Sorry honey. I already registered. I knew you would need a cup of coffee so decided to get some. You're not mad?" he asked frowning.

"No, you're so sweet," Ariel said accepting the cup, "my own prince charming."

"You better be careful Eric," Victor warned, smirking, as their other friends finally caught up "she's holding you to quite a set of high standards."

"And what's wrong with that?" Ruby asked with her hands on her hips.

"Nothing, I was joking," Victor reassured Ruby.

"Are my standards too high?" She asked her boyfriend.

"No, but you can be a little bit too expectant of me," Victor replied.

"Excuse me?! Expectant, what does that even mean?" Ruby raised her brow, standing there waiting for an answer.

David and Eric avoided eye contact with Victor.

"Why don't we get some lunch," Mary Margaret suggested.

"Sounds good," David agreed.

"Yeah we'll come with you guys," Ariel said, "Belle, are you coming?"

"Actually, I gotta go buy my books," Belle replied and left her friends to pay a visit to the campus bookstore.

**~Page Break~**

Belle searched the shelves, looking back and forth between the lists she held that contained the titles of the books she needed for her classes. She had gotten lucky and was able to sign up for all the classes she wanted, but only a few of the professors she wanted, thankfully Gold was one of them. The books were organized by subject making it easy to find the section where they would be located, but once she found the section she would have to find the title and number.

Belle traced her finger along the spines of the books reading the titles to find her last book for European Literature.

"May I help you with something?" A blonde woman, with her hair tied up in messy bun, asked.

"Yes, actually I'm looking for **The Study of European Literature in the 20****th**** Century**," Belle said reading title of the book.

"Ah, 3rd Edition, let's see if we can find that," the blonde woman said. She searched the shelves until she found it. "There you go." She handed her the heavy hard back book and Belle put it in her basket. As Belle dropped it in the basket pulled her arm down slightly.

"You probably should get another basket," the other girl suggested.

"My dorm isn't that far," Belle replied her voice slightly strained. "Thanks…."

"Tara, but my friends call me Tink," she said, "on account of I like to tinker with different things, especially musical instruments. I'm also a TA for Professor Fauna, one of the music teachers."

"Oh my friend Ariel is taking her class this semester. Maybe when you're not busy we could hang get a coffee or lunch," Belle suggested.

"Well I'm pretty busy with this job and working for the professor, but I'll see what I can do. So who are you taking European Lit with?" She asked.

"Professor Gold," Belle replied.

"Good luck. That dude is brilliant, but he's an arrogant ass and he makes it extremely hard to pass his class," Tink said.

"He can't be that bad," Belle insisted.

"Well if he's considers you 'worthy' he's not, but the man seriously needs to get the stick out of his ass," Tink said. She looked down at her watch with TinkerBell on it, "Hey, I better go. I'll see you around."

Belle nodded. "Yeah I gotta go pay for these. Thanks again."

The two went in separate directions, Tink going to help another costumer and Belle upstairs to pay for her books.

Chewing on her lip as she walked upstairs as a thought crossed Belle's mind, "_I really hope they're wrong about Professor Gold and that I can handle his class. Then again, most of the genius' of the world are arrogant assholes; the key is to not take it personally, though I can't stand people who think they're superior."_

For some reason this recalled her to Gaston's behavior last summer making her shiver violently. He always believed he was a superior on the field and deserved to be Quarterback, and had quite the outburst when he was benched during his last game. He also thought he was superior to her and for a while Belle had let him get away with it, but it had to stop after what happened last summer. He was pretty pissed about that, enough to terrify Belle, but at least now she was away at school free of the bastard, she hoped.

She squint her eyes as she stepped out into the garish light of the day and decided that arrogant professors she could handle. She just had to focus on her studies and right now it would be the perfect distraction to focus her mind on that over more personal matters. Starting Monday it would be a long week.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Hell, Dearies

Chapter Two: Welcome To Hell

Belle plopped her books on the mattress of her unmade bed, and walked over to her desk pulling out her chair to sit down. Sitting in the chair she rested her elbows on the wooden desk massaging her temples as she recalled her long week of classes, and the homework she still had to complete by next week.

The Women's Studies class on Monday was the beginning of her stress as Professor Mills intensely disliked Belle already. The students got into an unintentional debate in the first class, in which Belle found herself arguing against Professor Mills. The haughty professor was the type that forced her opinion down your throat and didn't mind debates as long as in the end you agreed with her. If you didn't agree, you should keep your opinions to yourself.

"That was a great start to my first week of classes," she mused sarcastically.

She glanced at her watch, her eyes grew round as she realized she had her first European Literature class in thirty minutes. She snatched up the books she would need and ran out. She was forced to walk at a brisk pace as her books kept slipping out of her grasp, and she almost tripped on the sidewalk a couple times.

She had heard a few more opinions on the professor throughout the week when she shared the news that she was taking his class. Most, like Tink, said he was a cynical hard ass, who would put you easily on the spot, but he did it to challenge them, eventually giving his students the confidence to speak their mind. B's were acceptable, C's and lower meant failure, and A's were to be expected from his students. What actually surprised her most was much of the female student populace and some of the gay males admitted that despite his hard-ass reputation as a teacher, he was easy on the eyes and his accent was quite appealing.

There was already a good amount of students filing in, and Mary Margaret and David were sitting close to the back of room giving Belle hope that sitting close to back would help her avoid being acknowledged by the professor. She realized that was most likely a false hope on her part, as she was warned that pretty much anywhere you sat Professor Gold found you.

The man himself made his entrance, slowly walking with a black cane with a gold top, but his movements exuded a natural confidence and a demand for respect. His light brown hair touched the top of his shoulders and his matching brown eyes that were shielded with his glasses.

Stepping up to the podium, Professor Gold set down his briefcase, and adjusting his glasses, he studied his students making mental notes of what he could observe just by what he saw.

"Welcome to Hell, dearies. Or at least that's probably what you're thinking about this class and maybe some of your other classes," Professor Gold said his Scottish brogue very thick, but surprisingly easy to understand. "I'm Doctor Robert Gold. I'm not here to coddle you or let you get away with taking this class because you think it's easy. If you think because it's Literature and you can get an easy A, you may as well leave right now."

He paused, giving people a chance to leave, but everyone was riveted by his presences and too afraid to leave.

"How many of you have actually read Shakespeare? How many men in this room have Austen or Bronte? How many have Dickens? Or Even Tolkien?" Professor Gold stared at each section down as if daring them to argue. "I'm guessing the answer is 'no' for most of you. Some of the females might have read Austen or one of the Bronte sister's works, but I guarantee most have just seen the movie versions. Movies dinnae do the story justice, but literature in the form of paper is a rich tapestry of words, weaved together to arouse the imagination, to ignite a light inside the deepest crevices of one's mind, and there only goal is this…to tell a story. Unfortunately, American literature has loss this ability with their comic books and distasteful stories such as _50 Shades of Grey._" He spoke with passion and wild abandon that held the female students staring dreamily at him while the males' eyes glazed over.

"Excuse me, Professor, but I have to disagree," Belle spoke, and she could hear the shifting of seats, arms sliding along the wood, and the silent gasps.

He raised his brow. "And why is that, dearie?"

"Well, yes, some of the acceptable literature today this rather disgusting, but not American literature is bad. I mean what about Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Twain, Poe, and Plath? They're brilliant writers and American."

"True, but all those authors are dead," he pointed out.

"Do you think it's not possible for an American writer to not be as good of a writer?" She inquired.

"Well with what is acceptable I don't know, but if someone is willing to ignore American expectations then, yes he or she can bring back the brilliant literature of the 20th Century. Of course, we're not here to talk about American literature now are we, but thank you for your comment Miss?" He asked.

"French," Belle replied.

He returned to his lectured occasionally glancing at Belle as she studiously took notes and smiling to himself as he thought '_Finally, an interesting student.'_

Throughout the rest of lecture, Belle kept questioning many of Professor Gold's statements, and he felt a mixture of frustration and fascinating. It had been a long time since a student had challenged him, but he didn't like be continuously interrupted.

**~Page Break~**

Belle's first class with Professor Gold had gone better than she expected, and she had quite enjoyed the lesson. It was true the man was a bit cold, but he was passionate about the subject he was teaching, which was all any eager student could ask for. As she read her notes while sitting beneath an old oak she had discovered earlier that week, Belle began to twist the heart shaped locket around her neck, which was the only remaindered of the her mother's presence's in her life, that had become a habitual gesture whenever she was lost in thought or nervous. She wasn't sure why, but the feeling of eyes watching her came over her, and Belle glanced beyond the area she sat, but there were too many students staring at each other or their books to determine if one of them was staring at her. Belle had returned to reading, but within a few seconds a shadow loomed over the page she was reading. She glanced up and smiled as David stood with a slight smirk on his lips, clutching Mary Margaret's arm.

"Hey, thought we'd join the teacher's pet," he said teasingly as he sat cross legged beside her.

Belle's cheeks turned crimson and she began to fiddle with her locket again.

"Don't tease her, David," Mary Margaret said sitting down beside him and smacking his arm. He grimaced rubbing his tender flesh as Mary Margaret, for such a petite and sweet woman, was a bit fierce.

"We just had one class, David," Belle reminded him, "and all I did was questioning his statements. It seems a bit arrogant of him to assume that European is the only continent to have brilliant literature.

David fell back on the grass and positioned his hands underneath his head. "The man didn't seem use to people interrupting him, let alone on the first day, and the dude smiled. I hear that's rare to get from him."

Belle rolled her eyes while Mary Margaret took out a pear and bit into it, and she wiped away the juice that trickled down her chin.

"So I hear someone made quite impression," Ruby said as she approached the group with Victor lagging behind as he drank his coke. He used to constantly drink beer, but Ruby gotta him out of habit after she told him about her dad and how drinking contributed to her parent's car accident. He held his medical textbooks hand for Victor was the only other person in the group with a heavy load of classes.

"It's not a big deal," Belle insisted, "I just disagreed with some of his comments he made."

"During the first lesson," Ruby reminded her.

Belle deliberately kept her eyes on her notebook feeling the heat on her cheeks as she scribble profusely summarized versions of what she was reading in the textbook. Ruby smirked as she took a sip of her soda, and the others all looked at each other with identical expressions.

**~Page Break~**

The next two months most of her time was spent in the classrooms listening to lectures, the library studying or writing her latest essay, and the occasional visit to the tree to just enjoy the fresh air. Studying her dorm was off limits as almost every in the dorm liked to party or at least listen to loud music, including her friends.

"Belle, you deserve to take a break for a few hours," Ruby insisted while she waited for Ariel to get dressed. They were supposed to meet the guys twenty minutes ago, but Ariel couldn't find the right outfit.

Belle rummaged her papers and books as she searched for her pen that seemed to have disappeared. "This is our most important year and, unlike the rest of you guys, I don't welcome distractions. I want to do well this year and that requires lots of focus."

She got out of her seat and crawled beneath the desk, running her hand along the carpet floor as well as searching with her eyes. "Aha, there it is," Belle exclaimed as she spotted the pen.

"Oh my God Belle, it's just one night! It's not gonna kill you," Ruby said.

"She's got a point you've been studying too hard and deserve a break. Who knows maybe you'll meet a cute guy," Ariel said as she popped out from the closest.

Belle all the sudden became much focused on the book she was reading, but the words were just blurred images on a page. "Well, I'm not looking for a new boyfriend. I told you that," she said, clutching her locket.

Ruby raised her brow. "What happened between you and Gaston anyway?"

"Nothing," Belle shrugged. "As I told Ariel, he and I wanted different things." _He wanted what I wasn't ready to give. _

"Really? Well, I'm sorry that you guys are no longer together, because you made a cute couple," Ruby said.

"Oh yeah, they should have stayed together, because they made a cute couple," Ariel said in a mocking tone.

"You know what I mean, they were great together, and you really cared about each other," Ruby said touching Belle's shoulder.

Ariel glanced down at Belle, who was writing notes on the reading material rather vigorously, but Belle's expression was sad and distant.

Ruby sighed. "I still think you should come."

"C'mon Ruby, Belle obviously isn't interested, and we shouldn't force her. Plus were keeping the guys waiting," Ariel said, now that she was ready. She guided Ruby out of the room and with a final glance, left Belle to her studies.

An hour later, Belle was in the library scanning the shelves for a book. She dragged her fingers along the spines having to turn her head at an angle to read the titles.

"Aha," she said when she came across the one she wanted. Pulling it out of the slot, Belle, with the book in her grasp, headed for one of the tables that were empty. Opening it she began to reading, but as she silently read the words a chill crept. She glanced around the room, but found the few students and librarian's head bent over going about their activities that didn't involve looking at anyone. It was probably just a chill, but for a moment she couldn't help, but think someone was staring at her, just like that first day in the quad.


	3. Chapter 3:Missing Locket

**Chapter Three: Missing Locket**

Ruby flung the door open, a huge grin on her face and fluttered down on her bed. "Victor took me on the best date ever to celebrate my birthday," she said. "For a guy who I know who still checks out other girls, he is quite the good at being loyal."

Belle made a sound of disbelief while she shoved aside the pillows on her bed. Ruby sat up still smiling as she said, "I know you think a guy shouldn't have wandering eyes, but it's not as if Victor would ever cheat on me. He's really sweet and caring, despite that."

"Whatever Ruby, I just want you to be careful, that's all," Belle said as she stuck her hand underneath the mattress.

"Besides, if Victor ever did cheat, I told him point blank I'd cut off his balls," Ruby said confidently.

Belle hadn't reacted to Ruby's comment, and her brow creased she pulled her hand out from under the mattress. She stuck her head under the bed, and after a minute looked up frowning as she pounded her fist on the mattress that was currently bare of sheets and her blanket.

Ruby frowned and asked, "Okay what hell are you looking for?"

"It's my locket that my dad gave me with a picture of him and my mom. It's a sort of good luck charm and it's one of the few pictures I have of her," Belle answered.

"Oh, well, I will help you look for it. Did you check the dorm bathroom? Maybe you left it in there when you took it off to take a shower," Ruby suggested.

Belle scratched the top of her head she scanned the room. "Maybe," she muttered and walked out into the hallway to check the dorm bathroom.

Ruby continued the search for Belle's locket in the room going through her own bedding. She looked at the window sill and started looking through the desk of stuff just as Belle returned. "Not in there?" She asked and Belle shook her head.

The two searched through desk drawers and under the desk as well, but after about five minutes Ruby said, "We'll look again tomorrow. Aren't you going to be late for class anyway?"

"Ah crap," Belle exclaimed, "I got ten minutes. Would you keep looking if you got time?"

"Sure," Ruby said.

Belle gathered up her things and was about to walk out the door when Ruby asked, "Was Gaston a wanderer? Was that why you broke up? I think I recall him looking a few times."

Belle shivered, but luckily Ruby couldn't see Belle's eyes as they clouded with fresh tears. A brief glimmer of a memory of Gaston's violent temper revealed itself, when she questioned him about his wandering eyes, came to the surface of her thoughts. She wiped the escaped tear drops and turned to address Ruby's question. "Yeah just a bit, but it doesn't matter now. We're not together anymore, so Gaston can look where he wants."

Ruby frowned as she heard the tremor in Belle's voice, but Belle had already left. "Okay something's up," she said to herself. She pulled out her phone from her black and red checkered handbag and searched for Ariel's number.

**~Page Break~**

Beads of sweat were sliding down Belle's forehead and strands of hair were slipping out of the ponytail she had put her hair up in to get it out of the way as she ran down the hall to her Literature class. She caught herself as she slid along the freshly waxed floor, almost slipping, and once she was well balanced, paused in front of the door to relax her body. Belle clutched the part of her chest where she could feel the rapid rhythm of her beating heart. To calm it, she took several steady breaths and taking out some napkins she had stuffed in her purse, Belle dabbed her forehead with them. She turned the knob, but it was locked. She jiggled it hoping that maybe it was stuck, but it wasn't and looking through the window, she saw the heads of her peers were bent over their desks no doubt taking vigorous notes. To her embarrassment a few had looked up, including Mary Margaret, and she glanced over at Professor Gold, who had one brow arched as he stared at her with an annoyed expression. Her cheeks reddened, and she disappeared from view. She lingered for the thirty minutes that were left until the class had come filing out of the classroom.

"Belle, what happened you're never late for class? You're the most punctual person I know. Ever since grade school you have always made sure to be on time, sometimes you even get there an hour early. Are you okay?"

Belle nodded. "I lost track of time while looking for my locket," she admitted.

Mary Margaret frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry, hon. I'll help you look for it."

"It's a stupid necklace," David said putting his arm around Mary Margaret. She glared at him and bopped him on the head.

He winced rubbing it. "Ow! What's the big deal it's not worth getting a lecture from Gold, who thinks tardiness is the eighth deadly sin."

"It's not just a necklace! It was locket given to Belle from her father you idiot. It has a picture of her mother in it," Mary Margaret snapped.

David blushed. "Sorry Belle, I didn't know," he muttered. "I'll help you look too."

"Thanks David and Mary Margaret, but don't worry about it Ruby's helping me looking for it. It's got to turn up somewhere," Belle said trying to sound as if it wasn't a big deal.

"We'll still help you look," Mary Margaret assured her squeezing her friend's arm.

"Thank you." Belle sighed, "Well I better explain what happened. Maybe he'll be nice."

"Doubt it," David said receiving a punch in the shoulder.

Belle walked into the classroom, her face still flushed, as she hesitantly approached Mr. Gold's desk. She waited for him to look up from his desk, all the while trying to hide her expectant expression.

He finished scribbling a note and taking the papers he shuffled them repeatedly. "Yes, Miss French?" He hadn't even bothered to look up.

Belle licked her lips swallowing as she began to address him. "Professor Gold, I'm very sorry I was late to your class. I lost track of time while I was looking for something that is very important to me. It won't happen again, I swear."

Finally, glancing up at her with chocolate brown eyes that were warm, but at the moment very serious, he held up his hand to silence her. "I don't need to hear your excuses Miss. French. Those first few classes ye have been quite prompt, and I'm sure ye have a perfectly good reason for your lateness, but all I care about is you arrive on time for the next class."

Belle nodded.

"I would recommend you find someone you can look over their notes from today," Mr. Gold suggested as he inserted his lecture notes in his brief case.

Belle nodded again and after saying thank you scurried out of the classroom.

Outside David and Mary Margaret sat on a blanket that he had spread out underneath a large oak tree.

"David, stop it. You're distracting me," Mary Margaret said trying to hide the giggles that escaped her lips as David tickled her neck with his mouth. Belle plopped down on the blanket and closed her eyes for a moment as she relaxed.

"So how did it go? Did he let you off easy or was he pretty harsh?" Mary Margaret asked.

"It went okay. You know, just gave me a warning to make sure I get the notes from today's lecture," Belle shrugged. "Is it okay if I look at yours?" She looked at Mary Margaret not even thinking about asking David since she could barely read his chicken scratch.

"Sure, glad he wasn't too hard on you. It wouldn't have been fair if he had been since you're usually there on time anyway," Mary Margaret said sliding over her notebook to Belle.

"Hey, since you're busy copying my notes and Charming over here won't let me concentrate, we're going to take a walk. You don't mind, do you?" Mary Margaret said.

"No, I don't mind," Belle assured her.

Mary Margaret shoved her books that Belle didn't need, to look at for notes, into her bag and threw it over her shoulder. David walked away enjoying the last remnants of summer before the chill of autumn approached. Looking at Mary Margaret's notebook, Belle began to read the pages of notes.

Twenty minutes later, she was scribbling her own version of what Mary Margaret wrote when an unnatural shiver ran up her spine and along her arms. She wrapped her arms tight around her, having not brought a sweater or jacket, to keep out the random chill she felt. She squint her eyes, glancing up at the sun that was still shining garishly on her face, and then she looked around the surrounding area. A light breeze brushed strands of hair along her cheeks and on her bottom lip and she returned to her work.

She had no idea why but something made her looked up again and sight of a short figure, she couldn't tell who it was because of the distance, seemed to be staring at her. Well, that's what it looked like the person was doing as they stood facing in her direction. Maybe the figure was staring at something in front of her or he or she wasn't staring at all. Whoever it was lifted whatever was around its neck and put it against its face pointing in her direction. Belle blinked and frowned and quickly scooped up her things shoving them in her backpack. Trying not to look as if she was suspicious, she walked at her usual pace, but kept glancing behind trying to look discreet as entered the closest building. She did not hear the clicking sound as the figure in the distance took photographs of here.

Once inside, Belle increased her pace to a brisk walk and still kept glancing behind her to see if she was being followed. She hadn't been facing forward when she bummed into another and dropped her notebooks in the process.

"Oh sorry," she muttered and as she looked up and her cheeks turned to a brilliant shade of red.

"What is your hurry, Miss French?" Professor Gold inquired.

"I'm so sorry, Professor. I guess I was distracted and wasn't paying attention." She scrambled to retrieve the notebooks wanting to fade in oblivion. Though, she just bumped into the guy, a guy who happened to be her Professor, her very handsome one who had let her off the hook for being late, and she had just been a little jittery about the person that might have been watching her. Maybe she had just been imagining it, but the object looked like it might have been a camera or binoculars.

"It's perfectly alright, Miss French. I understand being distracted," he said and bent down to help scoop up the papers that had slipped out of notebook. Her eyes grew wide as she saw him holding and looking at a sketch she had drawn a few days ago of her horse Philippe, her father, and her family's farm.

"This is quite a beautiful sketch, dearie. Is this where you live?" Professor Gold asked, not taking his eyes off the drawing.

Her cheeks were even redder. "Yes, I miss being home sometimes, but that also means running into Gaston so I just write to my dad a lot and sketch pictures of home," she said.

"Ah, I take it this Gaston is an Ex friend?" He said handing the sketch back to her.

"I can't believe I just brought that up," she said. "That's embarrassing."

"Your business is your own, and I shouldn't have brought your attention to it," he said.

"I don't know why I let that slip anyway, but I guess, Professor Hopper would call it a Freudian slip," she nervously laughed.

He smiled. "Sounds about right, dearie, but I won't pry anymore," he assured her. He started to walk away, but turned around and said, "You really are a good artist."

Belle's mouth hung open slightly as she stared at his retreating form and couldn't help smiling.

Ariel glanced up just as Belle walked in still smiling at Professor Gold's compliment. "Hey, Ruby wanted me to tell you she hadn't found the locket yet. What locket is Ruby talking about?"

Belle sighed as recalled her missing locket. "It's a locket that my father gave me. It has a picture of my mom, and I lost it."

Ariel frowned. "I'm so sorry. I'll help you look for it if you need an extra pair of eyes."

"Thanks, that'd really help Ariel," Belle replied.

"Of course, what are friends for? You don't remember when you last wore it?" The red head asked.

Belle shook her head. "I didn't even know that I had lost it until early this morning. It's a good thing I had only two classes today, because I wouldn't even been able to concentrate. I can't believe it slipped my mind."

"It happens, Belle. Don't feel guilty, because it doesn't mean it's any less important," Ariel told repositioning herself in the chair to face her roommate.

"I know, but how could I let myself forget," Belle said.

"It's okay," Ariel said. "We'll find it. By the way Ruby told me she asked about Gaston."

"Oh," was all Belle said.

"I know you don't want to share, but she's worried and so am I," Ariel admitted.

"Look, I will talk about it when I'm ready to talk it about, but right now I have more important things to worry about than some stupid guy. The world doesn't revolve having my own Prince Charming," she snapped.

She immediately felt guilty as she saw how Ariel's expression. "I'm sorry Ariel. I'm just a little upset that I lost my locket, and I was late to class looking."


End file.
